http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0r3iQkJY0s
OBAMA JUNIOR FRATERNITY TEACHER TALKS
http://www.kansascity.com/news/columnists/steve_penn/story/962702.html
Suspended teacher trying to send youths to inauguration
Kansas City Star, The (MO) - Saturday, January 3, 2009
Terrance Vick wants the best to come from a bad situation.
Vick was suspended back in October from his teaching post at the Urban Community Leadership Academy after a video of him teaching his students a pro-Obama step-dance surfaced on YouTube.
Now, Vick and others are trying to send the 10 boys featured in the video to the inauguration.
Vick taught seventh- and eighth-grade math before he was suspended. He expects to be terminated.
“It happened,” Vick said. “I’ve sort of moved on. But the boys received a lot of negative publicity. And so I thought, if any group of kids deserves to go, it’s these kids. ... They were inspired by this man. I don’t want this whole process to leave a bad taste in their mouths. They did something positive, and they were crucified for it.”
Yancy Davis said her company, Iron Sharpens Iron Organization Inc., is trying to find funding to send the students to Washington.
“Right now, this is the only thing good that will come out of this,” Davis said. “These boys are losing one of their male mentors who they looked up to. We figure, if we can take the boys to Washington, they’ll see that some reward will come out of their hard work.
“Mr. Vick meant well. The boys feel condemned if they do and condemned if they don’t. People felt like Mr. Vick was imposing his political views on those boys. If they were stepping to Snoop Dogg or 50 Cent, it wouldn’t even be an issue.”
Anyone interested in helping can send contributions to the Obama Inauguration Excursion Fund in care of ISI Organization Inc. at 300 W. Armour Blvd. Suite 210, Kansas City, MO 64111. Contributions can also be sent to any local Bank of America.
(snip)
//
Suspended Teacher Defends Obama Chant
Reported by: Lisa Benson
Email: benson@nbcactionnews.com
Last Update: 12/24/2008 8:42 am
KANSAS CITY, Mo. - The metro teacher suspended for teaching his students an Obama chant speaks out.
This Junior Fraternity step show gained national attention in October and had over a million hits on YouTube.
The students from the Urban Community Leadership Academy were chanting, among other things “yes we can”. They were words that led to the suspension of metro math teacher, Terrance Vick.
Initially, Vick wanted to stay out of the spotlight, but recently decided to tell his story, to help his former students.
“When they were arguing it on The View and ABC Nightly News, and FOX, should the teacher be suspended, I was blown away,” said Vick said.
Blown away and soon suspended from his teaching position at the Urban Community Leadership Academy at 1524 Paseo Boulevard.
“I’m almost positive I’m going to lose my job,” said Vick.
Vick is the mastermind behind the Junior Fraternity Obama step, but says he was using Barack Obama to inspire his students, not to push a political view point.
“I wasn’t pushing any political view cause I didn’t have a political view,” said Vick
Vick says all the teachers at UCLA were assigned a group of students to mentor before school.
He named his group the Junior Fraternity.
He says the groups’ interest in Barack Obama came before the primary election, and after Obama’s “Race in America” speech.
“I just used it as an inspiration, not to push any political views,” said Vick.
(snip)
Jones doesn’t understand why his favorite math teacher got suspended, especially since they performed the routine twice for their principal. But now, both Vick and Jones are focused on the future. They hope the entire Junior Fraternity can witness Barack Obama’s inauguration.
“I think the best gift or the best lesson is that these boys get a chance to witness that history,” said Vick.
Vick along with the Iron Sharpens Iron Organization hopes to take the entire Junior Fraternity to Washington, DC to watch the inauguration.
//
http://my.barackobama.com/page/event/detail/gptvfg
Junior Fraternity Obama Inauguration Excursion (Fundraising)
Iron Sharpens Iron Organization, Inc., is asking for your financial support in sending the 10 members of the Junior Fraternity at the Urban Community Leadership Academy of Kansas City, MO to the Obama Inauguration along with their parents and the teacher/mentor, Terrence Vick who was suspended from his job for teaching these young men the Obama step routine and educating them about Senator Obama’s life to inspire each one to follow their own dreams and be successful.
(snip)
//////////////////////////////////////////////////
Related???
(no links)
FROM PROMISING TEACHER TO DRUG DEFENDANT TERRANCE VICK , WHO HAD A GIFT FOR MOTIVATING STUDENTS, BEGINS TO FACE COCAINE CHARGES.
Wichita Eagle, The (KS) - Thursday, February 12, 1998
Author: Tim Potter, The Wichita Eagle
To A.J. Hitchcock, a 12-year-old at Wichita’s Jardine-Edison middle school, Terrance D. Vick is a teacher who makes math fun.
To a longtime teacher and mentor who wants to remain unidentified, Vick is “one of the most promising young black educators that I have seen in a long time.”
But to Assistant U.S. Attorney Blair Watson, Vick is a man who has led a dual life, who stands accused of selling an ounce of crack cocaine and possessing an ounce of cocaine with the intent to sell it last July. Sources have said Vick is not accused of selling drugs to students.
On Wednesday, Vick, 26, pleaded not guilty to both charges, and federal Magistrate Judge Karen Humphreys ruled that he could be released from jail to a halfway house if he posts $5,000 in cash, based on a $50,000 bond. Vick’s attorney said it will take his relatives a few days to gather the money.
As the judge explained the conditions for the release, she took off her glasses, looked sternly at Vick and told him that more than anything he needs to be honest.
“This community is very concerned about what may be going on,” she said.
Earlier, the assistant U.S. attorney argued that Vick shouldn’t be released, partly because he recently lied to officials about whether he had been arrested for or convicted of theft in 1990.
The prosecutor also told the court that Vick had told DEA agents he had sold up to 2 kilos of drugs in 1997 and had smoked a mixture of marijuana and cocaine while employed as a teacher.
“The government doesn’t believe,” he said, “that because he is a teacher that that helps him out. We actually believe that that is a detriment” because he should be held to a higher standard.
On one hand, he said, Vick “wishes to appear to be a respected member of society.” At the same time, “he wishes to be a drug dealer, which he was.”
//
AREA BRIEFS
Wichita Eagle, The (KS) - Thursday, May 21, 1998
Author: Compiled from Eagle news services and staff reports
ARKANSAS CITY
EXCERPT
WICHITA
Former teacher pleads guilty to drug charges
Terrance Vick , a former teacher at Wichita’s Jardine-Edison Middle School, pleaded guilty this week to possessing about 28 grams of cocaine with intent to distribute it.
Vick, 26, entered his plea Monday before U.S. District Judge J. Thomas Marten. He faces a maximum of 20 years in federal prison without parole. No sentencing date had been set by Wednesday.
This is so scary!